Saturday, April 24, 2010

Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away, Come Again Another Day

RAIN.

How I love you so. It's like my love for good internet, cable tv, grocery stores, ATMs, and oh all the other things that we take for granted in life. And for the first time since I came to Burkina Faso way back on November 4th, I saw my first droplets of rain.

And boy oh boy did it rain: thunder, lightning, the whole works. And while my little doggie Bob was freaking out because for him it was the first rainstorm, I was crying-literally. I was so incredibly happy that rain came that I started crying; I was so overwhelmed. Of course that prompted Bob to freak out even more. Poor little guy, already scared by the huge storm, he now has to deal with his owner looking upset. Too bad that animals can't sense happiness from tears of joys like we do.

And then the rain stopped, and we went another few days with nothing. Except one day, where a fake storm of thunder and lightning came, with no rain. I was sitting in my typical "please rain on me clothes (standing outside in my boxers)" when my neighbor walks by and sees me. I'm pretty sure that he was wierded out, but not enough to come over and say good evening.

But then Thursday came, and it rained so hard again that the temperature in my house dropped 20 degrees, from a horrendous 105 + humidity to a very comfortable 85-no humidity.

So folks back home, please package up your rain in a hypothetical box and send it via Mother Nature Express to Tenkodogo, Burkina Faso.

I await your gifts wearing only the finest pair of "please rain on me clothes." Boxers.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Skype

So another one, short and sweet. Not to much to report this week, but in trying to keep up with a weekly blog I feel I must at least type something.

My Japanese friend and I started the week off by practicing our English and Japanese, respectively. It amazed me how much I actually retained from a wasted year of Japanese as a freshman at college, so it was actually pretty fun. I still got the Hiragana down.

This was a terrific week for me, despite having to stay up til 2AM grading 104 math papers (my fault of course for waiting til the last minute) and having 7AM class the next morning. I finally got my 8GB USB key that I have been fighting for months to get. It's not my key, we used the money made by the computer lab (each student must pay 600franc CFA to use) to buy the key. With it I can now begin installing larger programs onto the now 11 computers that we employ and I can leave it after I have left Tenkodogo for the administration to use. Plus, the school is on page with my plans for next year with the formation of a new, and RESPONSIBLE, student committee to take charge next year of the computer lab.

The main reason for this little blog update is that I changed my Skype name. I could not remember my old account and password and obtaining the info proved to be futile since my old acount was registered under a now defunct dhbutler@uvm.edu email address.

So bad news is you all must locate my new account at dylanhbutler, good news is I have Skype!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Les Hommes de Force

So I want to tell you all about a baby project of mine that is in the works right now. A project sort of related to education, but on a much more informal basis, similar to my role as a mentor in City FC back in the land of highways and fast-food.

Since my internet time is short, and I don't want to get too excited about this project before it crashes and burns, I will only write a bit about what it is I have in store.

In West Africa, and especially Burkina Faso, there is a lot of emphasis on girls empowerment. Girls empowerment sounds great and all, but the reality is that it is not practiced to the fullest extent that it could be. It's simply a term that many people use to make themselves sound better, sort of like how we have so many Manchester United fans in the world. In a sense, a bandwagon cause. We in Peace Corps Burkina Faso have placed a great emphasis on girls empowerment, and I have seen a way to do it using a different method: by working with boys. Because how can we promote the equality of women without getting men on the same page?

So I started the idea of a group called Les Hommes de Force, a group named after a group we had a School Without Walls, Men of Strength. I wrote up a plan in French, and gave it to my principal (also my private French teacher) to review. Not only was he encouraging, but he seems excited to help in some small capacity providing me with contacts like the governor to come and talk with my boys about being a man in a changing world, and how to keep up with the times. The group will discuss gender equality and family planning (keeping in mind the Burkina culture of course), as well as information about the prevention of malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases often associated with West Africa. And we will play some football too just too keep them interested.

He is going to help with the selection of the boys from school. We will take 4 students from each 6th grade and 5th grade class (grades go in opposite order here) who demonstrate the values of a leader in the classroom, which we will hopefully get them to demonstrate outside the classroom as well. While everything seems grandiose, we are working things out to make it doable for 2-3 weeks in June. I am super excited because this, unlike my teaching, is my first real project that I started and collaberated on. I only hope that things work out.

Oh, and the Washington Capitals are freaking awesome. C A P S CAPS CAPS CAPS!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

A week of Domes, Rubix Cubes, and Togo

So my vacation has ended, but what a vacation it was. I travelled all the way to the west to see the Domes and Waterfalls of Burkina, to Ouaga for a Rubix-Cube themed party, and to Togo for an amazing beach vacation. I will not go into details of the Rubix Cube party, but let's just say that it involves lot of colorful clothing.

I will however, discuss the other two parts of my vacation.

I went to the Southwest to help out with a Girls HIV/AIDS training and soccer camp. It such an amazing event put on by four other Volunteers that I almost felt like I crashed the whole thing. But I don't feel too bad about it, I got to sport a donated pink referee jersey and get back to my referee past. For "field trips" we got to see the waterfalls of Burkina (nothing special) and the Domes. The Domes, however, were amazing and deserve a second trip. They are naturally formed cliffs that are shaped like domes, or free standing columns, that are said to have been formed by the ocean a long time ago. Don't know about the second part, but they are an awesome spectacle that proves that even Burkina Faso can have cool geography.

Rubix Cube--skip that part. Send me an email if you are really interested (Hint hint).

Now onto the last part, Togo.

It started with a bus trip from hell with salami sandwiches, and ended with a bus trip from hell without salami sandwhiches. A total of about 40 hours spent on 2 busses (that's traveling in West Africa for you).

But in between was heaven, a vacation unlike any other I have ever taken. 7 Volunteers and I stayed at a beach side hut resort for 4 dollars a night where the staff would wait on us hand and foot. Fresh fish to eat, delicious. Boat ride in the ocean, done. Some haggler annoying us and we dont want him, gone. One volunteer had his camera stolen. No probem, the staff of Chez Antoine got it back. Palm trees lined this beautiful beach facing the Atlantic Ocean, and cold beer on demand. Oh, we even taught our host about beer pong, he loved it!

In short, it was a wonderful vacation. No crazy stories (minus the boat ride) making it a very relaxing time at the beach. I certainly plan on going there again, if I can tolerate the horrid bus rides on the outside of the sandwich.

I will leave you with a quote spoken by some random Finnish man that approached us at dinner the first night. And my friend's very hilarious response to this awkward question.

Random Finnish guy, "Are you volunteers, or sexual tourists?"

PCV friend, "Can't we be both?"